Along with the completion of some large-scale construction projects, 2011 will likely bring budget cuts to schools and ferries, the blossoming of a Silverdale incorporation effort, and more.

If all goes as planned, headlines in 2011 will introduce a new Manette Bridge, a Silverdale YMCA, and an improved Winslow Way.

With the book closed on 2010, Kitsap Sun staffers are looking ahead to what the big stories of the next year will be. Along with new construction projects, reporters are gearing up to cover a Stennis deployment, local elections, how state cuts will affect ferry service and education, and more.

Here, we offer a preview of the stories we think will be big in the next year.

MANETTE MAY GETS ITS NEW BRIDGE THIS YEAR

By the end of this year, construction crews should be putting final touches on a new Manette Bridge.

The new span is scheduled to open late this year or in early 2012. It will have wider lanes for cars, a bicycle lane and better pedestrian access. A roundabout will greet drivers at the east end of the bridge.

What bridge travelers won't have are the signature green steel beams that have marked the crossing for decades. Parts of the old bridge will, however, be part of a modified H.O. "Whitey" Domstad Viewscape park at the bridge's east end, between the bridge and the Boat Shed restaurant.

The $57.8 million project will conclude with the dismantling of the 80-year-old landmark span. The old bridge was dedicated in 1930 after five years of planning, building and fundraising.

While construction crews have closed the bridge short spurts during initial construction, bridge crossers will have to use the Warren Avenue crossing during the last four months of construction as the new Manette Bridge's entrances are finished.

SILVERDALE Y SHOULD OPEN THIS YEAR

By July 2011, the Silverdale Haselwood Family YMCA should be open for business.

The 85,785-square-foot facility went up over the last part of 2010, giving future users a glimpse of the size of a building that community leaders hope will become the cornerstone of the Central Kitsap Community Campus. The campus is a project more than a decade in the making.

The YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties says that more than 2,000 people have signed up as members of the Silverdale facility, which is expected to eventually have about 15,000 members. About $10.5 million has been raised, putting the $12 million fundraising goal within reach.

Community leaders see completion of the YMCA as a necessary step before other projects on the proposed 12-acre campus can begin. Other plans for the campus site include senior housing, a possible new Kitsap Regional Library facility, a performing arts center, and an outdoor community green meant to become a gathering place for families and the community.

SECOND NEW FERRY ARRIVES, BUT WHERE'S IT GOING?

Todd Shipyards will deliver the second new 64-car ferry to Washington State Ferries in the spring. By then, maybe the state will know to which route the Salish will be assigned.

The plan had always been that one of the new ferries would serve the Port Townsend-Coupeville route during the slow half of the year and two would be on the route during the busy half, just like the Steel-Electrics did. The first new boat, the Chetzemoka, joined the route on Nov. 15.

If the Legislature accepts Gov. Chris Gregoire's budget proposal for 2011-13, there won't be a second one. The governor, in a move to help plug a projected $5.7 billion deficit, proposes to move the second new 64-car ferry from Port Townsend-Coupeville to the San Juan inter-islands route, bumping the island's 87-car Evergreen State to Fauntleroy-Vashon Island-Southworth. The 124-car Issaquah would move from the triangle route to Seattle-Bremerton and Bremerton's 144-car Super-class ferry would become inactive. The new, smaller lineup would require fewer crew members and less fuel, saving the state about $10.5 million. The governor also proposed to eliminate Bremerton-Seattle runs later than 9:05 p.m.

The Legislature will use Gregoire's proposal to craft its own transportation budget during the upcoming session.

STENNIS PREPARING FOR DEPLOYMENT

The USS John C. Stennis, having just completed a six-month maintenance period at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, is beginning to prepare for a mid-year deployment to what is called the Fifth Fleet area of responsibility. The area includes the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea and East African coast.

The Bremerton-based aircraft carrier will be there for about seven months, until early 2012, said spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Cindy Fields. It will participate in Operation Enduring Freedom, launching sorties to support troops on the ground in Afghanistan, she said. It was last deployed to the Persian Gulf in 2007. In 2009, it spent six months in the Western Pacific.

The Stennis completed sea trials on Dec. 14, culminating its maintenance period. It will be back and forth between Bremerton and the coast of Southern California a few times for training and certification of its flight deck and pilots from Carrier Air Wing 9.

The $5.6 million construction portion of the project will replace aging underground utilities and all of the Winslow Way's street and sidewalk surfaces between Madison Avenue and Highway 305.

City leaders have stressed the importance of the project for years. As planning began in earnest a few years ago, concerns were raised about the project's cost, who would pay for it, who stood to benefit from it, and whether the improvements would encourage taller and bigger buildings, thereby tarnishing Winslow's small-town charm. A lawsuit nearly derailed the project, and the City Council haggled for months before approving a plan in June.

Almost $4 million of the project's costs will come from state and federal grants. The city has already spent an estimated $2 million on the project's development, bringing the total to about $7.6 million. The project's cost had been slashed from an earlier projection of $20.6 million.

The seven-month-long project is expected to throw Winslow into chaos, as large pits, trenches, and wooden bridges crisscross the thoroughfare. The project's first phase will be between Madison and Ericksen Avenue, and then between Ericksen and 305.

By October, Winslow Way will have a smoother surface, wider sidewalks, a bicycle lane, more benches and better sewer and water pipes underneath.

CITY COUNCIL SEATS, FIRE MERGER ON NOVEMBER ELECTIONS

Kitsap voters will weigh in on city leadership and may decide whether to merge two fire districts this year.

South Kitsap Fire and Rescue and the Bremerton Fire Department might ask voters in November to approve a merger of the two agencies, which would create a new organization called West Sound Fire and Rescue.

Officials from the two agencies say the merger would lead to better service at lower cost. SKFR Chief Wayne Senter told a Manchester audience in December the merger could save $1 million in the first three years.

Should voters approve the merger, it could lead to a consideration of second merger between West Sound and Central Kitsap Fire and Rescue. The original discussions focused on merging all three agencies.

In other election stories we'll be watching, Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola has yet to make official his intent to run for re-election, but every hint he has dropped suggests he will. Four of the seven seats on the Port Orchard council will be up for grabs.

Five Poulsbo city council seats will be on the ballot, including the one left vacant by Dale Rudolph, who resigned from his position. Rudolph's interim replacement is expected to be chosen in January.

In Bremerton voters will choose four city council members. Will Maupin and Dianne Robinson have both said they will not seek re-election, leaving at least two seats vacant.

Four Bainbridge Island council seats will be on the ballot.

BREMERTON GARAGE BRINGS A PLACE TO PARK AND CATCH A SHOW

Downtown Bremerton will have a new parking garage and, if ongoing plans go as discussed, a new place to catch a movie in 2011.

Construction crews began building the 170-space structure in August. The city's goal in having the garage built is to help improve retail sales in the city by bringing in more customers and more businesses.

Discussions have been ongoing between the city and an as-of-yet unnamed movie theater developer to add a cinema atop the garage.

Construction could also result in wider sidewalks in the area. Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, suggested the federal money could be used to install charging stations for electric vehicles.

The new garage is expected to open in summer 2011.

WILL REAL-ESTATE MARKET SEE RECOVERY?

Kitsap County's unemployment is expected to slowly dig out of the recession in 2011, but the local housing market may well stay stuck in the mud.

The year starts with more than 9,000 people unemployed in Kitsap County, translating to an unemployment rate of around 7 percent. As bad as that sounds, it's far better than in February 2010, with Kitsap County's unemployment rate peaked at 8.7 percent.

Kitsap's unemployment rate most likely will remain about two percentage points lower than the state's, thanks to its steady military-employment base.

Construction, retail, some sectors of government and professional services are predicted to be the worst-hit job sectors as the recovery inches along.

Kitsap's housing prices may continue to fall. At the end of 2010, the median selling price of a home in Kitsap County was at $230,000, which was 4 percent lower than a year ago. Foreclosures and short sales, while temporarily slowed by the Obama Administration's moves to help that sector, could also force prices lower.

No relief is expected in Kitsap's commercial real-estate market, as landlords continue to slash lease rates to keep tenants.

A TENT CITY COMES TO KITSAP

A tent city for Kitsap County's most desperate homeless families is expected to open in January behind the Bremerton Salvation Army.

Patterned in part after Camp Quixote in Olympia, Kitsap County's first tent city will be home for as many as 40 people living in 10 four-person tents. Unlike Camp Quixote, which moves from site to site, the Bremerton tent city will last only six months.

By then, the city of Bremerton may offer up the former CenCom building near the Warren Avenue bridge as a more permanent homeless shelter. But that location isn't certain, and at least one other still-unidentified location is expected to be under consideration by social-service and political leaders early this year.

Homeless advocates agree that a tent city for men is needed much more than one for families. But they chose to make the Salvation Army facility for families, because they believed it would be more palatable for the community, according to Maj. Jim Baker of the Salvation Army.

It is conceivable that a second tent city for men may be considered in 2011.

SHORELINE PLANNING TO TACKLE TOUGH ISSUES

Shoreline planners for Kitsap County and its four cities will move beyond preliminary work on their shoreline master programs and into the tough issues — such land-use designations, shoreline buffers and restrictions for future docks.

Kitsap County's planning is being guided by a Shoreline Task Force. Early this year, the task force will be creating designations for shoreline properties based on environmental standards and uses. About mid-year, the task force is scheduled to engage county residents in a discussion about the proposed designations and their implications for property owners.

The four cities are proceeding on separate schedules. Bremerton may rely largely on existing shoreline designations while focusing on policies and other plan elements. Public review is expected during the first half of the year.

Bainbridge Island has created a task force with work groups to address specific topics. Planning efforts will focus on shoreline policies, working into proposed regulations early in the year.

Port Orchard has created an advisory committee and is working through its shoreline designations.

Poulsbo, with less waterfront than the other cities, has completed a draft of its policies, regulations and procedures, all available for review. Planners must complete a cumulative development analysis.

SCHOOLS FACE BUDGET CUTS

Schools in Kitsap and North Mason likely will grapple with a drop in revenue this year. With an expected $4.6 billion in state budget cuts expected, local legislators have said that funding for education is not likely to be immune.

The governor proposed spending $2.2 billion less on kindergarten through 12th grade education in the next two years. Local school superintendents say fewer teachers and larger class sizes may be inevitable.

School boards will weigh what programs to keep and what to cut from spring to summer, but districts will have to send any layoff notices to teachers in May.

Compounding the funding drop are cuts to the current state budget made during an special session of the Legislature in December. In the next couple months, local school administrators will decide how to compensate for millions of dollars they had been counting on but that won't be there.

The group hopes to get the proposal on the February 2012 ballot. That means Citizens United volunteers will spend 2011 gathering signatures on incorporation petitions, finalizing proposed boundaries and campaigning.

Silverdale voters rejected an incorporation effort by five votes in November 1999 and then by a much larger margin in February 2000. Two votes were required because a ballot mix-up invalidated the 1999 election.

Many members of Citizens United also participated in the late-'90s incorporation attempt, but they say they've learned from past mistakes. Officers of the group include chairman Randy Biegenwald and treasurer Carl Johnson. Other members include Dale King, John Taylor and Bill Bryan.

GUN CLUB CASE SET FOR TRIAL

On March 3, Kitsap County's lawsuit against the Kitsap Rifle & Revolver Club is scheduled to go to trial under an "expedited" review process.

The county contends that the gun club is violating normal safety standards at the range, is fostering a public nuisance that affects surrounding neighbors and has constructed shooting areas, berms and backstops without required permits. The gun club maintains that its operations are safe, that residents were aware of the shooting range when they moved in and that county permits are not required for the type of construction that has taken place.

At stake in the case is whether the gun club will be required to apply for county land-use permits. According to county officials, operations must remains substantially as they were in 1993 to avoid going through the permitting process. A 1993 letter from the county "grandfathered in" existing activities at local shooting ranges, they say.

If the county prevails, a new permit could result in restrictions at the range, including increased safety measures and limits on noise and operating hours.